INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION IN REGIONAL STUDY DESTINATIONS: BUILDING THE EVIDENCE BASE FINAL REPORT Justin Brown | Jo Doyle | Leyna Clarke | Ali Radloff | Darren Matthews Developed for the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment 1 April 2020 Cover photo: Students at James Cook University, Townsville in September 2019 This project is supported by the Australian International Education: Enabling Growth and Innovation program project fund, Department of Education, Skills and Employment. For further information, please visit the website www.internationaleducation.gov.au or www.dese.gov.au. ISBN: 978-1-74286-593-5 With the exception of any material protected by a trademark, and where otherwise noted, all material presented in this document is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ au/). The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website as is the full legal code for the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). International education in regional study destinations: Building the evidence base Page 2 of 139 Table of Contents Preface ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... 11 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 18 1.1. Background to the research .................................................................................................. 18 1.2. Consultations to inform the research ................................................................................... 20 1.3. Research objectives .............................................................................................................. 21 1.4. Data sources and analysis ..................................................................................................... 22 1.5. Structure of this report ......................................................................................................... 22 2. A statistical profile of international students in regional study destinations ......................... 24 2.1. Technical definitions ............................................................................................................. 25 2.2. Destinations .......................................................................................................................... 28 2.3. Enrolments ............................................................................................................................ 36 2.4. Pathways ............................................................................................................................... 45 2.5. Outcomes .............................................................................................................................. 58 2.6. Summary of key messages .................................................................................................... 68 3. Case studies of regional study destinations ......................................................................... 69 3.1. Tasmania ............................................................................................................................... 70 3.2. Northern Territory ................................................................................................................ 74 3.3. Queensland ........................................................................................................................... 78 3.4. New South Wales .................................................................................................................. 83 3.5. Victoria .................................................................................................................................. 88 3.6. Summary of key messages .................................................................................................... 93 4. The decision-making process of international students in regional destinations ................... 94 4.1. What the research literature says......................................................................................... 94 4.2. What industry experts say .................................................................................................... 95 4.3. What is promoted to prospective students .......................................................................... 97 4.4. What students say is important .......................................................................................... 105 4.5. The factors underpinning successful practice ..................................................................... 109 4.6. Summary of key messages .................................................................................................. 115 5. Conclusions and recommendations ................................................................................... 116 5.1. What we learn from this project ......................................................................................... 116 5.2. How this evidence can help further inform the development of marketing messages ..... 118 5.3. Concluding remarks and recommendations ....................................................................... 125 References ............................................................................................................................... 128 Attachments ............................................................................................................................ 132 International education in regional study destinations: Building the evidence base Page 3 of 139 List of Tables Table 1.1: Summary of findings from stakeholder consultations ......................................................................... 21 Table 1.2: Description of data types and sources ................................................................................................. 22 Table 2.1: Classifications of ‘regional’ in Australia, 2019 [Current at March 2020] ............................................. 26 Table 2.2: International student enrolments, comparison of ASGS and Project definitions, 2019 ...................... 27 Table 2.3: International Student Enrolments in regional study destinations, by sector, % of Total, 2017-2019 . 29 Table 2.4: International Student Enrolments (All Sectors), by state/territory, % of Totals, 2019 ........................ 31 Table 2.5: International Student Enrolments (All Sectors) in regional study destinations, % of Category, 2019 . 36 Table 2.6: International Student Enrolments (All Sectors) in regional destinations, % of ASGS SA4, 2019 ......... 37 Table 2.7: International Student Enrolments (Higher Ed) by Category, University Group, 2019 ......................... 40 Table 2.8: International Student Enrolments (Higher Ed) by Category, Nationality (Top 10), 2019 .................... 42 Table 2.9: International Student Enrolments (All Sectors), Nationality (Top 10), Regional destinations, 2019 ... 42 Table 2.10: Percentage of students that completed a course prior to current higher education course, 2019 .. 46 Table 2.11: Visa held while completing previous studies ..................................................................................... 53 Table 2.12: Estimating a conversion rate from STNA courses into formal qualifications - Calculations .............. 55 Table 2.13: International students in paid employment by category .................................................................. 57 Table 2.14: Overall satisfaction with overall educational experience .................................................................. 58 Table 2.15: Experience of living in Australia ......................................................................................................... 62 Table 2.16: Engagement with broader community in Australia ........................................................................... 64 Table 2.17: Locations where students would consider living ............................................................................... 67 Table 3.1: Overview of Statistical Areas within scope of analysis ........................................................................ 69 Table 3.2: International student enrolments, by SA4, by 2019 (Share of Tasmania total) ................................... 71 Table 3.3: International student enrolments, by SA4, by 2018 (Share of Northern Territory total) .................... 75 Table 3.4: International student enrolments, by SA4, by 2019 (Share of Queensland total) ............................... 79 Table 3.5: International student enrolments, by SA4, by 2019 (Share of NSW total) .......................................... 84 Table 3.6: International student enrolments, by SA4, by 2019 (Share of Victoria total) ..................................... 89 Table 4.1: Decision-making process of international students............................................................................. 94 Table 4.2: Examples of pull factors ....................................................................................................................... 96 Table 4.3: Study clusters – Study, Live, Work ....................................................................................................